How To Fix Windows Update (BITS/AU) [Newly Edited] ?
I'm posting this to the two forums, which have helped me in
the past, since there's a real scarcity of information on the Net
about this subject.

I did the same in regards to how to fix Norton's Live Update
a while ago, which seemed to help a bunch of people, sooooo... About two months ago, my Windows Update feature stopped working.
I could not download Critical Updates (much less the optional ones).
I researched it for about two weeks, learned everything I could,
tried everything and nothing worked.

Finally I chose the option to speak with a M.S. Tech. Rep.,
because apparently since a lot of people were having the
same or similar problems, they put in an option where you
could speak to one directly (for free) for this (and closely) related
problems only.

What ensued was a very friendly, ongoing, two week, detailed,
trial and error e-mail correspondence (which I won't print here, obviously).
What you see below is the final result, after everything finally worked.

Hope it's helpful to someone:
Before you start -- I recommend if you have any kind of
Symantec (Norton) Firewall, turn on your Windows Firewall
first and then turn the Symantec (Norton) Firewall off.

Don't click the box which reads:
"Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone"

Then click OK and OK again.
Then proceed with the steps below....

Click Start and click Control Panel.
2. Click switch to a Classic View in left panel.
3. Double-click Administrative Tools.
4. Double-Click Services.
(or go to Run and type in services.msc )
5. Double-click the service "Background Intelligent Transfer Service".
6. Click the Log On tab, ensure the option "Local System account" is
selected and the option "Allow service to interact with desktop" is unchecked.
7. Check if this service has been enabled on the listed Hardware Profile.
If not, click the Enable button to enable it.
8. Click on the "General" tab and make sure the "Startup Type" is
"Automatic" or "Manual".
9. Then click the "Start" button under "Service Status" to start the service.
10. Repeat the above steps with another service:
"Automatic Updates"

After Step 1, go to the Windows Update website and
check if the problem still exists